Part II: Snowstorm on Christmakuh

 Venice:
Erin and I didn't stay in a hostel on the island of Venice because it was too expensive.  Instead, we opted for a hotel in a nearby suburb--an easy 20 minute bus ride from the island.

Of course, our second day there we woke up to a freak Venetian snowstorm.  We waited patiently at the bus stop for bus 53 to arrive--or for frostbite to set in on our feet, whichever came first--but a half hour passed without a bus.  We started talking to an Israeli woman and her daughter who were staying at our hotel.  It turned out that the daughter goes to college in Erin's hometown in Illinois.  Unfortunately, it also turned out that they had been waiting for bus 53 for the past hour.  We had to face facts: the bus wasn't coming.  Our bus driver was probably sitting in a warm bar somewhere, starting in on this 3rd glass of wine.  The only thing to do was to walk back to the hotel and get out of the storm before our Christmas trip turned into the Donner Party. 

We invited them to our hotel room for tea and cookies, went out for lunch and made a trip to the supermarket.  That night the four of us had a Christmakuh party (Christmas/Hanukah) at a neighborhood bar Erin and I had found the night before.  We brought a cake we'd bought at the supermarket, enjoyed the only decently-priced wine within 100 miles of Venice (they take a pound of flesh for every glass you buy on the island) and chilled with the old men playing cards.

 I'd call it a good day. 

 The next day the buses were running and we finally made it to the island, where we met up with our friend, Andrew, from Rome.  Venice was flooded from the snow.  The entire Piazza de San Marco was under water--even the entrance of the basilica was flooded.  The Venetians handled it like pros, setting up raised wooden walkways across the Piazza and inside the basilica.  Imagine hundreds of tourists shuffling along narrow walkways, one misstep away from falling into a foot of near-freezing water.  It took all my willpower not to push one to see if it would create a domino effect.  Call it scientific curiosity.

Venice was unlike any other city I've seen, and they weren't lying about that whole "sinking" thing.  The tops of hundreds of front doors just manage to peek up above the water where the ground floors are almost completely submerged.  There is so little space to build or add onto houses that they just stack additions onto the tops and sides of existing buildings, making parts of the city look like a giant Jenga game that's about to fall over.

Vienna
The night train from Venice to Vienna went off without a hitch.  When we got there we met up with Mark Thomas: friend from choir and tour guide extraordinaire.  He'd spent the semester studying music in Vienna, so he gave us a free walking tour and took us to the opera that night.

The opera was Macbeth.  In short: Good singing; weird staging.  The show started out with three women covered from head-to-toe in multicolored paint lying on a huge piece of paper while other women painted them.  From there, the show started to get really bizarre.  All I can say is that it was worth the €3 I paid to get in.  My favorite part was the guy in the audience who kept boo-ing the singers at the end of each aria, prompting all these little old men to start shouting at him in German.  At one point I thought they were going to beat him to a bloody pulp with their canes.

The city itself was beautiful, and the Viennese really know how to do Christmas.  They have gorgeous decorations, Christmas markets, hot "punsch," and pretzels the size of your head.

One of my favorite attractions was a giant natural history museum, featuring everything from cavemen to real squid tentacles to halls full of rocks and minerals. 

In case you're interested, "Gold Clump" in German is "Gold Klumpen."

Other notes from Vienna:
Blood sausage and potatoes = Delicious
Rum-soaked cake bits glued together with pink frosting = Why didn't I think of that?
Big barrels of pickels = Something I wish I had in my house (Don't go all "Freud" on me now...)
Viennese microbrewery = A welcome relief from Cruzcampo.  Spain, I love you but you can't make beer.
Piano in hostel = YAY!

...stay tuned for the third and final part of the Epic Christmas Saga!